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Victoria steps up to energy code, but builders want city to wait

In a move being criticized as premature at best, Victoria is taking initial moves to implement the new B.C. Energy Step Code.
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The City of Victoria is taking initial moves to implement the new B.C. Energy Step Code.

In a move being criticized as premature at best, Victoria is taking initial moves to implement the new B.C. Energy Step Code.

“I think it’s a pragmatic approach,” said Mayor Lisa Helps, adding that she wished the city could move more quickly, but that it has to be practical and work with builders.

“If we rush, we’re setting ourselves and industry and the climate up for failure,” she said, noting that council has asked staff to report back on the possibility of expediting implementation.

The Step Code is an amendment to the B.C. Building Code announced last year that establishes performance-based energy efficiency requirements for new residential and commercial construction with the ultimate goal that all new buildings will be “net-zero energy ready” by 2032. The term describes a building that consumes an amount of energy that is roughly equal to the renewable energy produced on site. The renewable energy is often produced through solar panels or wind turbines.

But Casey Edge, executive director of the Victoria Residential Builders Association, said the move to “fast-track energy efficiency” through the Step Code not only undermines existing national and provincial building-code standards, but will add thousands of dollars in costs for homebuyers.

“It’s another level of expensive bureaucracy in one of the most unaffordable housing markets in North America,” Edge said.

The Step Code focuses on design issues related to heat loss, such as placement of windows and doors, and types of heating systems.

Rather than mandating particular building practices or materials, the code is performance-based. Builders choose how to achieve performance targets. Home efficiency is measured in the number of kilowatt hours per square metre required, the security of the envelope and airtightness.

For houses and small residential buildings, there are five steps. Larger and more complex residential buildings have four steps, while commercial buildings have three. Each step represents a more stringent set of energy-efficiency requirements.

The code sets levels of energy efficiency. Step 1 is a minor improvement over the existing code, while Step 5 builds homes that have net-zero greenhouse gas emissions.

The new code came into effect last year, but requires individual municipalities to pass bylaws that tell local builders what is expected of them.

Edge said municipalities are not equipped to make such assessments.

Instead, he said, they should wait for the national building code committee, which is working on new energy efficiency levels.

By going down the road of establishing its own levels of energy efficiency, the city is exposing taxpayers to greater levels of responsibility and risk, Edge said.

Helps noted that there are already homes being built to Step 5 standard in the city.

Victoria councillors agreed to staff recommendations that new residential and commercial buildings meet Step 1 standards by November of this year and Step 3 requirements starting January 2020.

The exception would be for new garden suites, which would be required to meet Step 2 by January 2020.

They also agreed to explore offering a rebate or a tiered fee structure to support builders of houses, duplexes and townhouses to use an energy adviser and conduct mid- and post-construction testing.

Similar recommendations are expected to go to Saanich councillors on Monday.

bcleverley@timescolonist.com